World Cup 2018 predictions: Picking every game, group stage through final

The World Cup Draw is complete. After a lot of singing and dancing and FIFA/Russia propaganda-spewing, and after a bit of ping-pong-ball drawing, the 2018 World Cup has its eight groups. Its landscape is orderly. And now we have one of the most excruciating waits in sports, the six-and-a-half months between the draw and the actual World Cup.

But why wait to make some predictions? Isn’t all the anticipation of the draw based on the fact that we now have specific matchups to look forward to? Specific paths to glory to envision?

Yes, it’s way too early to make predictions. And yes, predictions are a mostly futile exercise anyway, even on the eve of the tournament’s June 14 kickoff.

Now that the World Cup Draw is complete, we know a bit more what the road to the final in Moscow looks like. (Getty)

But, what the heck, let’s have a go at picking all 64 games of the 2018 World Cup: